Scotland 2025

 A holiday in Scotland would not be the same if we didn’t visit Loch of the Lowes to see the Osprey. Unfortunately, this year the Ospreys have not raised any young, the female did lay two eggs but neither hatched. They are however looking after the nest and their territory. The male still brings fish to the female while she is on the nest (he tried but failed when we were there) and twigs are still brought in by both male and female.

Male coming to the nest with a stick, she wanted a fish.

Male on the right female on the left.

He landed on a tree 

And looked to see if he could see anything in the loch.

A failed attempt to catch a fish.

But he was soon caught

Then overtaken by a duck.

He did this quite a few times.

Another tree.

Another failed attempt.

Female bringing in a stick.

And another one.

Female calling for food, she was unlucky while we were there.

Scotland part three

 While we are up in the Pitlochry area, we usually pay a visit to Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve to see the Osprey. Unfortunately, this year we were a week to late the resident pair had already left. We did however see one Osprey passing through but the warden wasn’t sure if it was one of the local birds or not. As luck would have it, we drove into Dunkeld for lunch and low and behold an Osprey was fishing on the river. Unfortunately, it was flying and hovering directly into the sun. I managed to get some shots and then decided to move to the bridge over the river to see if I could get something better. When I was nearing the bridge, I could see another photographer and when I arrived he told me the Osprey had dived, caught a fish, and had flown off to eat it. I wish I had stayed where I was.

Osprey at the Loch of the Lowes.

I tried, without much success, to catch the Sand Martins if flight.

There were some Deer on the opposite shore to the hide we were in.

Some iffy shots of the Osprey at Dunkeld.

This Jay was in the garden when we got back to the cottage.

This Spider was in the cottage my wife caught it in a glass and put it outside so I could get a shot of it.

We had a drive into the hills surrounding the cottage that evening to see what we could spot the only things I got any images of were these Deer.

Scotland June 2023

 18.06.23 Once again the morning was spent around the garden and apart from lunch at The Inn On The Tay the rest of the day was spent at the Loch of the Lowes watching Osprey.

Red Squirrel.

Greenfinch.

Swallow.

A just fledge Robin sitting on the windowsill of the cottage.

The adult bird with a tasty grub for the chick.

Song Thrush.

I think this could be an Eratigena Sp. of Spider.

This is the female Osprey just about to land on the nest.

From what we were told by the ranger in the hide the male had not brought any fish for the chicks since the day before and they were getting hungry.

The female left the nest to try and get something for them.

She hovered over the loch looking for fish but was unsuccessful in catching any.

The chick looks a bit worried as the female lands on the nest.

The male did appear and tried to fish in the loch but he too was unsuccessful.

Later that afternoon the male finally brought in a fish.

While watching the Osprey I also tried to get some shots of the Swallows.

And, the swifts that were hawking over the loch.